Drug companies, which should report strong earnings, could be the tonic for your portfolio

We know they can tumble. We've seen the carnage. We're afraid even to peek at our 401(k) statements. Despite last week's rally, the NASDAQ is still down more than 60% from its all-time high and off 14.4% this year. Slowing profits, lack of visibility beyond the next few months, and sympathy selling have scratched once Teflon-tough technology stocks like Cisco, Oracle and Intel. They're so cheap now, you can buy a dozen shares of each for less than the price of a laptop.

Yet even so-called defensive stocks like consumer staples have suffered in the market's tremendous slide. So how can...